According to Bill Gates, the best age to give smartphone to your child is

The digital technologies of today provide a wonderful platform for parents to engage and interact with their children. The connected world is like children’s new playground. However, this journey might also raise some new conundrums such as when is the good time to introduce my child to the smartphone?

Children use smartphones to play games, make friends, look for information, and to stay connected but as parents, we all want to protect our children from negative experiences of the web which can expose them to undesirable behaviors, vulgar language, and mixing with the wrong company. Therefore it is important to set and maintain reasonable boundaries around technology: when to give your children their very own device.

The researchers demonstrate that by the age of 10.3 years, kids get their first smartphone on average. This means that by the age of 12, most children gain an access to the social media accounts on average. But that’s not a rule with the Gate’s family. Recently in an interview, Bill Gates revealed the rules set by him for giving his children their smartphone. He said he didn’t allow his children to get their own phone until the age of 14 years i.e. until they were in high school. This is the time where children can exercise restraint and completely understand the value of face-to-face communication.

But that’s true that all children are not the same and there is no specific age of a child to start understanding his or her own responsibility. But if you are looking to assess the maturity level of your child to know when to hand over a smartphone, following are the points to remember

Does he or she understand the concept of limits for minutes talked and app downloads?

Can he or she be trusted not to be texting during his or her class, disturb others and can use the text, photo, or video functions responsibly?

Does your child need to be in touch for safety reasons?

For Bill Gates, handing over smartphone does not mean complete freedom. The noteworthy thing is that it involved limited screen time for his children.

The Article 1st appeared on Business Insider